Another week of lackluster Who, this time set in 1920’s England, starring Agatha Christie…and resulting in a bit of inconsequential fluff that added up to an at best average viewing experience. The RFS crew, always ready to make lemonade out of crap, soldiered bravely on and veered so wildly off-topic that they might just have gone full circle and accidentally gone back on topic again. Digressions ahoy!
I was surprised by this news, though I’m not sure why. Ars Technica has been a great resource for technology info for years, and it was only a matter of time before someone snapped them up. That someone is Conde Nast, who will be folding Ars into the Wired Digital network, also known ad Condenet.
But it’s important to note that Ars is no fly-by-night payday. The site has been operating since 1998, first as a labor of love and later as a viable business. It succeeds because the site gives first-rate analysis and news on topics a niche audience want to read about, like games, all things Apple, science and computer hardware. And it took ten years to get to this point, something that some startups forget in their rush to get bought out.
I’ve been checking out Seesmic and (to a lesser extent) Disqus, and I have to say I’m not quite getting the appeal of “video conversations.” Partly that’s my own fault, since I’ve worked in broadcasting and print in one form or another for the last decade, and while I’m comfortable with feedback….I don’t really understand what the advantage is to video over regular old text comments, other than avoiding spam and actually getting to put a face to the person who you virulently disagree with. Maybe that’s the advantage…if you can see someone’s reaction, you’ll be less apt to descend into trolldom and fire off angry jeremiads to hapless commenters.
At the same time, the Internet seems to be driving people to a new level of comfort with being “on air.” I’ve never really been in that headspace, though again that could have something to do with my background in broadcasting. I’ve traditionally been a behind-the-scenes guy, whether it’s in TV or from behind a byline in a newspaper, so to put myself forward on camera has always been a difficult proposition (even though I did briefly do so on “The Lab with Leo“). Still, maybe video comments are a way to get more comfortable with the camera in a low-risk environment. It’s also early days…Twitter didn’t really prove its usefulness until a lot of people, and more to the point, a lot of people who have interesting opinions decided to jump on board. Or it could prove to be a fad and wander over into the Web 2.0 deadpile along with a bunch of other half-baked ideas. Here’s some other opinions on video commenting.
The Vancouver Sun is running a story about how local videobloggers are using the medium to drive up sales and otherwise reap profit. While I have no doubt that some new voices are being heard and in fact reaping the rewards of putting themselves out there. All very well, and Reachd is providing a valuable service by teaching people how to use video on the web, no matter how they end up using it. But the Sun seems to think that videoblogging consists of real estate agents putting their videos onto sites designed to sell house. Again, there’s nothing wrong with that as a form of expression or commerce, but blogging it ‘aint. At the very least, they could have gone to Miss 604, who has a couple of popular audio podcasts and covers Vancouver obsessively. So do Uncle Weed, Megan Cole, and myself, to name but a few. But once again the mainstream media has gleaned what it can from the surface without really delving into the excellent work being done by Vancouver bloggers and podcasters, which is a real shame.
(Full disclosure: Reachd is running a contest in conjunction with Techvibes for their next seminar, and I occasionally blog for Techvibes.)
After five years and countless Iraqi and American deaths, progress is finally being made to pacify a raging insurgency and bring battling Shia and Sunni factions closer together. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Malaki, previously viewed as weak and ineffectual, has succeeded in pacifying Basra using Iraqi forces, and in the process marginalized Shia firebrand (and likely backed by Iran) Moqtada Al-Sadr. Al-Malaki had previously been tenuously allied with Sadr, and whether any of this actually lasts is another question. The Atlantic has all the details.
Gas prices are creeping ever upward, a trend that makes me happy that I don’t own a vehicle. But according to Wired‘s car blog, Autopia, the rising price of fuel isn’t a temporary phenomenon. Demand from China and India, a tightening supply, and a slowing American economy are all to blame. And then there are speculators who will likely keep prices high, even if other factors ease off. Bottom line? Get a bicycle.
Japan, it has been noted time and again, is a weird place. One of the stranger aspects of their culture is the quasi-legitimacy of the organized crime organization known as the Yakuza. Reporter Jake Adelstein, who was the first gaijin to work at the Yomuiri Shinbun‘s Japanese edition, covered the Yakuza for more than a decade and is now under constant threat from the shadowy villains of Japan’s underworld. But that hasn’t stopped him from telling the Washington Post about the unique relationship between the Yakuza and the Japanese government, or how deep into Japanese society the mob’s tendrils go.
Vice Magazine is a snarky and somewhat pretentious rag that’s funny for about ten minutes, but gradually becomes annoying after you’ve read the tenth faux-rebellious article about hipsters or some band you’ve never heard of, wedged up against an ad for some expensive perfume. VBS.TV, Vice’s video arm, VBS.TV, is a different beast entirely, with great documentaries that delve into the world’s hot spots and go past the usual surface gloss of the Six O’Clock News (no surprise there, since no-one under 40 watches the nightly news anymore.) This report on the gun markets of Pakistan is particularly decent.
Friday night… an edgy East Vancouver club/gallery/skatepark… after the DJ finishes a two-hour set, the crowd of hipsters eagerly awaits Vancouver’s own faux-Brit powerpop punk bad The Tranzmitors’ live show… and pockets of Internet geeks nervously eye the crowd while checking out… the Microsoft Zune?
If it sounds like a strange scene for a Microsoft product launch, it was indeed, but then, the Zune is an odd product, a hardware device from a (mainly) software company, with hobbled wifi (for limited file sharing only!) and DRM incompatibility with Microsoft’s own PlaysForSure standard for music players.
We never go into a new RFS wishing to slag the living hell out of the latest episode of what is, after all, our favorite program…but we were left with little choice after “The Doctor’s Daughter,” which had such potential but fell far short of the mark. Our anger was tempered by the usual news, diversions, and a shout out to our new friends at Tachyon TV….but ouch, here’s hoping for better fare from the BBC next week. Still, our balderdash is as engaging and filled with bon mots as ever.